GPS data puts sex offender where Ohio State student's body was found

Brian Golsby, charged in the rape and slaying of an Ohio State student, had his every movement recorded in the three months since his release from prison.

That's how police say they've confirmed that Golsby, who was wearing a GPS ankle monitor as a condition of his parole, was at Scioto Grove Metro Park, where the body of Reagan Tokes was found last Thursday.

"Right now," Grove City Police Lt. Brian Davidson said, "we are looking at the data that was generated by (Golsby's GPS monitor). ... It puts him in the place of Reagan's death."

That's one of the few things clear about Golsby's GPS, however, because authorities aren't releasing information about how restricted his movements were supposed to be under his parole and whether anyone was monitoring his whereabouts.

Tokes, 21, was an Ohio State student set to graduate in May when she was abducted the evening of Feb. 8 after leaving her restaurant job in the Short North. Her body was found the next day near the park entrance. She had been raped and shot twice.

Golsby, 29, admitted to police that he abducted Tokes near North High Street and 3rd Avenue in the Short North. He has pleaded not guilty to aggravated murder, rape, aggravated robbery, kidnapping and receiving stolen property — charges that could result in Golsby facing the death penalty if convicted. Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O'Brien hasn't yet said whether he'll seek the death penalty for Golsby.

Golsby also is accused of making Tokes withdraw $60 from an ATM and, after raping and killing her, stealing her car. When police found the 1999 silver Acura parked on a Columbus street, they found a cigarette butt inside. A DNA test on the butt matched Golsby, whose DNA was on file with the state from his imprisonment.

Golsby had served six years in prison for convictions of attempted rape and robbery. After release this past November, he was placed on parole for five years and ordered to wear an electronic ankle device with a GPS that tracked his location at all times.

It's unclear, though, what the conditions of Golsby's controlled release — or parameters of any limitations on Golsby's movement — might have been.

Initially after his release from prison, Golsby was supposed to live at the Alvis House, a Columbus halfway house. But a spokesman for Alvis said Wednesday that it rejected Golsby because of his violent history.

Alvis House said in a statement, however, that as part of its contract with the Adult Parole Authority, a division of the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, it placed the GPS monitoring device on Golsby on Nov. 22.

"From that date through Feb. 11, 2017, Golsby had this device on at all times," Alvis' statement noted. "Alvis' role is to notify the APA if the device is removed or no longer working properly."

"Our data indicates the GPS equipment worked properly and there is no evidence of an attempt to remove the bracelet," Fanna Haile-Selassie, a spokeswoman for 3M, the company that the department contracts with to provide GPS monitoring, wrote in an email.

Golsby's GPS data were given to law-enforcement, helping Grove City police verify he was at the scene where Tokes' body was found.

Golsby was classified as a Tier 3 sex offender, the state's strictest sex-offender designation, after his attempted rape conviction. That designation required Golsby to report for the rest of his life every 90 days to the sheriff's office and to report any changes of address. Golsby did that, the Franklin County sheriff's office said.

The Tier 3 designation also requires the sheriff's office to notify neighbors who live within 1,250 feet of Golsby that a sex offender lives there. Schools, registered day-care providers and law-enforcement agencies within 1,250 feet also are required to be notified.

Sgt. Rich Weiner, a spokesman for the Columbus Division of Police, said Golsby's GPS information also is being used "to compare it to robberies" that have occurred recently in German Village.

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